What in the World was That?
by the DragonBard
Summary: After the fight with Saffron, Ranma decides that the fight was much too close for comfort, and he needs more and better techniques. The question is, where can he learn them, and who from? A chance encounter with a couple of classmates, gives Ranma the a
1. Changes

What the Heck was That?  
  
Chapter 1.  
  
Ranma's Change.  
  
by  
  
the DragonBard  
  
It was a normal day for the Tendo household. Nabiki was sitting down in her room, listening to her music tapes, when there was a knock at her door.  
  
"It's open.' Nabiki said absentmindedly.  
  
Akane peeked her head around the door.  
  
"Can I talk to you a minute?" She asked.  
  
Nabiki waved her in.  
  
"Sure, what's on your mind?" Nabiki replied.  
  
Akane walked over to Nabiki's bed, and sat down.  
  
"It's about Ranma," Akane muttered, ignoring Nabiki's smirk. "Ever since just after the Wedding, he's been up to something, and I can't figure out what it is."  
  
"You think he's visiting the others on the sly?" Nabiki asked, frowning. Akane shook her head, grimacing.  
  
"No. Not anymore. I ran to the Nekohaten and Ucchans, thinking that's where he was, but Shampoo hasn't seen him since the wedding, and Ukyou has only seen him at school."  
  
"So, you want me to help you find out what's going on, is that it?" Nabiki asked, smirking. She had noticed Ranma's attitude over the past while, but hadn't seen any real point to actively trying to figure out what it was. Now, however, it might just prove interesting.  
  
"Okay sis, I'll do it." *Might just get some good blackmail material on Ranma while I'm at it.* "For a small fee of course." Nabiki said with a smirk.  
  
Akane grumbled a bit, but paid her sister the money. Nabiki quickly put it away, and assured Akane that she would find out what Ranma was up to soon.  
  
"Probably won't take me more than a few days." Nabiki muttered to herself with a smirk.  
  
* * *  
  
"What? You've got to be kidding me!" Nabiki exclaimed.  
  
"Sorry Nabiki, but it's the truth. The only thing Ranma's been doing, is talking to members of the Anime/Manga and Video Game Clubs, and going to their meetings." Gosungkei said.  
  
Nabiki inwardly sighed, and waved Gosungkei away, while she tried to ponder what Ranma was doing.  
  
*What's Ranma up too?* she wondered. *He's never shown any interest in that kind of stuff before. What's caused the change, and is there some way I can get something out of it?* After a few moments, Nabiki decided to keep this little titbit of information to herself, at least until she had a better idea of what was going on.  
  
"This is getting more interesting by the second." Nabiki murmured to herself.  
  
* * *  
  
At that very moment, Ranma felt a cold chill run down his spine.  
  
*Damn, I've got a very bad feeling.* He thought to himself as he again tried to perfect his latest attack.  
  
The Spirit Gun was, so far, the most difficult of the new attacks he was developing from the anime, manga, and video games. Where the Hadoken was similar to his Hiryu Korin Dan, and the Kame Hame Ha simply focused the martial artist's energies into a single point, the Spirit Gun used an entirely different source of energy... spirit energy. Genma had been very skimpy on anything but practicals during their training, so the idea of somehow tapping into his spiritual energy was something Ranma was having difficulties performing.  
  
It was pretty rare for Ranma to have such difficulties learning a new technique. Usually, as soon as he had a grasp of the basics behind it, he was halfway to mastering it. The Shishi Houkodan had taken so long, simply because Ranma hadn't realised the need for depression.  
  
Ranma stood in the small clearing, pointing his finger at a small boulder, like a child with a make believe gun. Ranma's face creased in concentration as, slowly, a light began to form around his pointing finger. An incandescent point of golden light began to grow at the tip of his finger. Slowly growing, until... it extinguished.  
  
"Dang it! I was almost there." Ranma muttered. "Well, the anime 'did' say that you needed to be spiritually aware to be able to use that kind of technique. sigh Guess I just need to get more in touch with my spirit before I can pull it off."  
  
With the Spirit Gun not working, Ranma decided to see if he could adapt any of the training methods that were shown. Very few of the anime or manga really showed much of the actual training, preferring to get to the fights. However, there was the occasional exception, or flashback.  
  
Ranma pointed a single finger, and began to focus his ki energy, much as he would for a Kame Hame Ha. He then did a one finger stand, and slowly began to project his ki, until he hovered an inch above the rock he had chosen. The goal was to be able to hold it for twelve hours, and was meant to improve endurance, ki control, and balance. And would probably do a heck of a job. If you could hold a ki blast, even the weakest one you could form, for twelve hours, you could hold out for a long time, even when pushing yourself to the limit.  
  
It was an even harder task, since he was wearing special weighted clothing. He'd gotten the idea from the Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball Z anime and manga. It had been difficult to get. He'd had to track down the people who made Ryouga's umbrella (Ranma had half expected that it was home-made. Some styles required you to make your own weapons.) The clothing probably weighed almost as much as he did, if not more, and would throw off his balance, and slow him down slightly, until he got used to it.  
  
*Once I get that Kaiohken technique perfected, I'm going to have to do this training again.* Ranma thought to himself. *It'll be even more effective. Maybe I can even adapt it to work with spirit energy*  
  
The major problems with the Kaiohken, at least according to the anime that Ranma was basing it on, was that if you didn't prepare yourself for it first, you would run the risk of over loading from too much energy, and literally blowing up. Besides that, it caused you to exhaust yourself much faster. So, to use the technique, endurance training would be imperative. However, endurance training during the Kaiohken, would be even 'more' effective. In fact, the Kaiohken itself could be considered a form of endurance training, all by itself.  
  
  
  
Doing a twelve hour one-fingered handstand, by itself, would be difficult, while performing even a low level ki blast, it would be a training method that could lead to greatness. However, one should not expect to be able to complete the training on their first try, even if they are extremely talented. Even if you are Ranma Saotome.  
  
The technique Ranma was performing was rather difficult, and required great concentration. A mere five minutes into the training, Ranma lost focus, for just a second. It was enough, though, for him to loose his balance, and topple to the ground, falling on the stones.  
  
"Ouch." He groaned. "Guess I'll need to work on that before I'm ready to really start showing anything."  
  
Ranma had watched tons of anime, and read just as much manga. It was all so new to him! There were so many stories of martial artists fighting against their enemies, destroying monsters. Some of which could have destroyed Saffron and Herb with ease! He was certain he would have to rewatch several of the shows in order to figure out some of the techniques. However, Ranma Saotome 'never' gave up! He would watch them, and eventually, he would be just as good as they were! No, better!  
  
Slowly getting up and brushing himself off, Ranma started considering other methods of training, and techniques. Running through kata he could perform, Ranma began to piece together ideas, muttering to himself.  
  
"I can generate a soul of ice, might be able to use it to copy some of those freeze attacks that Sub-Zero guy has. Then, I just reverse it to create the fire blasts. Now how am I going to generate lightning? Have to think on that."  
  
Ranma gathered his hands to his side, closed his eyes, and began to reach out to the surrounding area. Slowly, much too slowly for his liking, Ranma felt something flow through him, into the palms of his cupped hands. Then, when he felt the time was right, he thrust his hands foreward, calling out the name of the attack!  
  
"Hadoken!"  
  
Ranma opened his eyes to see the brilliant blue ki blast rocket from his hands, to reduce a nearby tree to splinters. He grinned. The Shishi Houkodan had been developed as a mining technique, and it showed. It was powerful, but it's might was like that of a battering ram, pushing through whatever was in its path. The Hadoken, however, was meant specifically for fighting, and more closely resembled a cannonball or a bullet than a battering ram. Also, the Hadoken could be improved upon, and adapted to create 'other' techniques; the Shinku Hadoken, the Hado-beam, or even the Shoryuken/Ascending Dragon Fist, Shoryureppa/Ascending Dragon Repeat, and Shinryuken/Divine Dragon Fist.  
  
However, his joy at performing the technique soon turned to irritation. "Damn it! That took too long. If I was fighting someone, I'ld be creamed before I could come close to throwing one of those things!" Ranma complained to himself, as he once again started to reach out for the power necesary to perform a Hadoken.  
  
Ranma knew that being able to perform the technique, by itself, was nothing. He would have to be able to use it at a moment's notice, no matter the conditions, no matter whom he was fighting at the time. And so, Ranma settled in for what would prove to be a long session of practices.  
  
======================================================  
  
Author's Notes: Partial credit for this goes to Phil Chan, who independently came up with an idea much similar to this. We corresponded on this a bit, after I found his idea on the Studio Aesir website, and I wanted to make sure to acknowledge him.  
  
I'm going to try and limit my use of Japanese in this fic, to techniques from anime and manga. Any techniques which are my original creations will be in English only. Also, if I'm relatively certain about the meaning of a techniques name, I will try to include a translation the first couple of times I use it.  
  
One thing that people seem to dislike about these 'Ranma training to get better' fics, is that he gets too dang powerful, too fast. They don't see any effort put into it on his part. Well, I'm going to 'try' not to do that in this fic. Ranma will make mistakes with his techniques, and the training methods won't all be easy for him (as you can tell from this chapter)  
  
Also, it will be some time before Ranma can throw even a KHH of decent strength. At present, most of Ranma's ki blasts will need something more, before they are have any decent strength. Emotional energy, external energies, an extremely tight focus, whatever. No worries of Ranma suddenly being in the same class as a Saiyan warrior, throwing off ki blasts as easily as breathing. 


	2. Thoughts

What in the World was That?  
  
Chapter 2  
  
DISCLAIMER: All characters portrayed herein are the property of Viz Video, and Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own them, and make now claims to owning them. This is a work of fan fiction, and I make no money off of this.  
  
=====================================================  
  
Ranma was using his usual method of traveling to school, walking along the fence, while ignoring the prying questions, and glares from Akane. This was rather easy to do, since his mind was focused on the image of a red headed swordsman, moving with the speed of gods.  
  
'Okay, from what the manga says, Godspeed isn't just about being fast, it's about reading your opponent, and being able to predict their movements completely.' He thought to himself. 'With that, you can hold your own, even against opponents who're even faster than you are. I've got the speed part down, but how can get to that point? I've trained with Pops so much I've got most of his moves down by heart already, and I don't want to deal with the Freak and the Ghoul, but they're the only ones who are good enough to help me with this. Ryouga hasn't been as good as me since the Amaguriken training, but he's just too tough to bother with it.'  
  
  
  
Ranma absently grabbed Kuno's wrist, and flung him over the wall surrounding Furinkan.  
  
'Kuno's got nothing on Kenshin. And Hiko would stomp his ass flat before Kuno could blink.' Ranma idily considered challenging Kuno to a kendo duel, but decided it would just end up like all the other times that Ranma had beatten him; with Kuno declaring that he had won, or claiming Ranma had cheating with black magic.  
  
Unknown to most people, Ranma's martial arts skills were not limited to hand to hand. Not even counting his skills in Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, and Rhythmic Gymnastic Martial Arts, they included training with the katana, bo staff, bow and arrows, sai, yari, and various other classical martial arts weapons. Plus he could use any small object as a throwing weapon with pinpoint accuracy. It was a little ace in the hole that Ranma kept to himself. Of course, his father was completely aware of these skills, but prefered not to mention them. It had been a way for them to make some quick money at times. Genma would lay a small bet with some punk at a bar on a game of darts, and then would have Ranma get a perfect score.  
  
'The best bet is for me to start developing my senses more. The techniques for spirit energy, and Cosmo need you to develop extra senses, and it'll help me figure out Godspeed.' Unfortunately, his training trips hadn't gotten him anywhere in developing his spiritual awareness. Probably one of the things they had gotten wrong when making the anime. 'My best bet for getting the training I need is to hunt down a priest or psychic. They might be able to help me, since that old ghoul in Yu Yu Hakusho is a psychic, and priests are supposed to deal with spirits 'n stuff!' Then suddenly, something hit him (and for once it wasn't Akane!) 'Wait, isn't one of Akane's friends a psychic? Maybe I can ask her!'  
  
Just then, Ms Hinako in her child form showed up, and class started. As she began another boring day of lessons and school work, Ranma pulled out of his pocket a small notepad. In it were several notes that Ranma had taken while watching anime, and reading manga. While he could soak up anything related to martial arts like a sponge, there were so many small details involved that he didn't want to miss any of them. All the different types of ki, the variety of techniques and tactics, it was enough to make his head spin.  
  
'Ice ki, that's probably what I put out when I'm using the Soul of Ice, so it's just another name for cold ki.' Ranma thought to himself. 'All I've got to do is start developing it better. In fact, if I can figure out how to tell the difference between the different types of ki, and how to use it better, I'll be better able to tell what my opponent is up to. I can already sense kenki, and satsu no hado, enough to tell when I'm about to get attacked.'  
  
  
  
Ranma continued to ponder the various possibilities that his recent exposures to anime and manga had revealed to him, when Ms. Hinako, always with an eye out for 'delinquents,' noticed Ranma wasn't paying attention to her lecture. She quickly pulled out her trusty five-yen coin, and drained his battle aura.  
  
The class shook their heads at the sight of Ranma's aura drained form... well, the ones who weren't busy drooling over the extremely buxom teacher. Meanwhile, Ranma's mind was surprisingly clear, as Ranma was used to the exhaustion that the drain caused.  
  
*Damn, she caught me again!* He thought to himself, and started grumbling as he waited for him to recover some of his energy. *I wonder how much ki she can drain before she gets full? She 'did' drain most of the class all at the same time To amuse himself, he started going through some of the meditation exercises he had developed. Reaching out with his mind to feel the ki of his surroundings, opening himself to them, letting them fill him... wasn't working. He just didn't have enough ki to reach out and pull any in.  
  
*Maybe I should try Reiki.* One problem, he still hadn't gotten in touch with his spirit enough to harness it, which was unfortunate, because it would have allowed him to possibly recharge instantly. If not, it could have drawn in the ambient ki energy he needed. *That does it! As soon as I can hunt up a place, I'm going to go talk to a monk and see if I can't get my Reiki strengthend!*  
  
It was a few minutes later that Ranma's ki reserves recovered enough to restore him to his proper state, though he was still a bit weak. Of course, for him being weak meant he couldn't lift more than a ton at once. Akane and Ukyou noticed his recovery, which took only half the time it normally did for even Ranma. Everyone else would usually take twenty minutes to get back their strength from one of Hinako's drains.  
  
Ranma, however, was too busy with his thoughts to notice his quicker than average recovery. *Now, I just need to figure out how to find someone to teach me, or at least get me started. The Freak and the Ghoul might have an idea, but don't want to give them any ideas. I could ask that one girl Akane's friends with, but I don't want Akane to hear about it either. Anyway, she probably hasn't been really trained in it. Not enough to help me. No, my best bet is to just tell everyone I'm going on another training trip, and visit some of the monks. Even if they can't help, they can probably point me in the right direction.*  
  
***************************************************  
  
Well, another chapter done.  
  
After I started working on this fic, I started writing a large list of all the various special techniques used in anime, manga, and video games. That list, which is still incomplete, is arouned 10,000+ words long, and covers over a dozen sources. That's not even counting the list I've made to deal with magic!  
  
Yes, I'm fully aware I'm crazy. ;)  
  
Just so you are all aware of what I'm talking about, in this and future chapters:  
  
Ki=Chi=Energy of the Body=Life Force. Used by martial artists.  
  
Reiki=Spirit Energy. Energy produced by human souls, gods, elementals, and various supernatural beings native to the Earth Plane. Used by psychics and priests. It comes from Yu Yu Hakusho.  
  
Youki=Demon Energy. Energy produced by Demons, Devils, Oni, etc, and undead, or by humans with demonic ancestry. You might call it the source of Black Magic. Primarily used in Yu Yu Hakusho, but also mentioned in 3x3 Eyes, and possibly other anime/manga. (Personally, I think Youki is the source of black magic, but could be wrong)  
  
Cosmos= A cosmic energy born during the creation of the universe, that remains within all things. From Saint Seiya  
  
Kenki=Fighting spirit.  
  
Satsu no Hado=Killing/Murderous Intent. The willingness to kill, the drive to succeed, even if it means the death of the opponent. The Anatsuken, which Ken, Ryu, and Akuma practice, is based on harnessing this, and the power it can unleash.  
  
Chakra=1. Points of the body which focus and channel energy. These points are on a line that leads from the loins, to the head. Each Chakra relates to a different emotion, bodypart, and/or ability. 2. Combination of the energy of the body and of the spirit (possibly Ki and Reiki) 


	3. Begining of Revelations

Chapter 3  
  
Beginning of Revelations  
  
DISCLAIMER: All characters portrayed herein are the property of Viz Video, and Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own them, and make no claims to owning them. This is a work of fan fiction, and I make no money off of this.

* * *

Sorry this took so long, but I've been rather... stuck on what to do for this chapter. I'll try to make the wait for the next chap shorter, but I make no promises. I'll also try to make the chapters longer (which seems to be one of the primary complains) but again, I make no promises.

* * *

"Dang blasted, stupid, kami-forsaken, Happosai-wannabes! They call themselves priests?" Ranma muttered to himself as he wandered a forest. "Couldn't keep from hitting me with cold water all the time! Worse, none of them knew anything about spirit energy, besides their sutras. Next time, I use a Shinto priest!"  
  
Ranma continued on in much the same vein for several minutes, until he cam across a small clearing, surrounded by some good sized trees. A quick look around, and Ranma started to set up camp. With his years of experience, it was only a matter of minutes, and he was ready to begin training for the evening, while he still had some light.  
  
"Okay." He muttered to himself. "I just need to focus my energies onto the soles of my feet, and use just enough to keep from falling off, but not so much that the ki of the tree repels mine."  
  
After taking a minute to find a suitable tree, Ranma closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. He slowly lifted his foot, and set it upon the trunk of the tree. Resting it there, and then lifting up his other foot off the ground, and bringing it to rest on the tree.  
  
Before, any climbing he had done had envolved a combination of several different methods, though none of which would have allowed him to simply stand on a wall as if it was a floor.  
  
This is tough. Ranma thought to himself as he took another slow step. In some ways, this training method reminded him of the one-finger stand training from Yu Yu Hakusho. Both training methods were meant to build up control of ones energies, though Genkai's method seemed to focus more on building up endurance, while this focused from on control.  
  
"Now, let's see just how good at this I've become." He muttered to himself, and turned his body so he was looking sideways.  
  
"Mouko Takabisha." He called out, and threw a ki blast at a distant tree, shattering it with ease.  
  
Unfortunately, the ki attack seemed to push him off of the tree, causing him to fall to the ground.  
  
"Ouch."  
  
Ranma continued tree climbing for some time, though he decided to hold off on using ki blasts until he was more certain, and tried to figure out another ki technique he could use instead to test his skill. Ranma finally decided to stop when the sun began to set. He then set his hand on top of a pile of wood chips and twigs he had already prepared, and it burst into flames.  
  
_Can't generate a fire technique yet, but I can at least use my ki to create enough heat to start fires_. Ranma thought to himself.  
  
"I can create cold, and I can create heat, but I can't generate fire or freeze things, so what am I missing?" He asked himself.  
  
Ranma shook his head. The same question had been plaguing him for months, ever since he had started this training. Trying to develop his own techniques based off of anime/manga was proving more difficult than he thought. Some simply required more power than he had at his disposal, or required an entirely different way of thinking.  
  
"Well, no use just sitting here thinking about it, I've got to get to sleep, and get back to training." Ranma muttered to himself.  
  
The next day found Ranma up bright and early, standing ten feet away from one of the larger trees near camp.  
  
Ranma began to breath deeply, his eyes closed in contemplation.  
  
"Katchuu Tenshin Amaguriken revised: Hundred Hand Slap!" He called out, and instantly his hands began moving at insane speeds, leaving dozens of after images behind, making it appear as if he had multiple hands.  
  
"That was easy. Too easy." Ranma muttered, clenching his fists. "Now to kick it up a notch."  
  
Ranma's ki quickly began to build up, his aura growing to the point where small stones, twigs, and leaves began to shudder and be pushed back by it.  
  
"Meteor Punch!" He called out as his eyes snapped open.  
  
For the next few seconds, it was as if Ranma's arms had vanished, leaving behind a faint blur as Ranma tried to push his arms, and his ki, to its utmost limits. The force from the blows was enough to chip and crack the tree in front of him. Still, Ranma frowned, and pushed himself harder.  
  
Suddenly, he stopped, collapsing to his knees, gasping for breath.  
  
Thought I had it that time. Ranma's arms hung by his sides, exhausted. He wasn't sure if he could lift them at that second, and he was too tired to even try for a few minutes.  
  
_This is worse than when I fought Ryouga after the Bakusai Tenketsu training. At least then I could still move my arms a bit_. Ranma began to make his way back to his camp.  
  
"Better train my legs for the rest of the day. Give my arms a chance to recover."

* * *

At the Tendo Dojo, Nabiki slowly went over all of the clues.  
  
"Okay, he's been avoiding the fiancees, except for Akane, but only because they live in the same house. He's apparently joined the Manga and Video Game clubs, even though he doesn't have a video game machine. Akane says he's recovering from Ms Hinako even faster than usual. Plus, he's been off on training trips just about every weekend."  
  
Nabiki's fingers rapidly tapped against her desk.  
  
"There's got to be something I'm missing, but what?" She grumbled to herself. "I've even asked the nerds, but they don't seem to have any information either."  
  
Nabiki glanced out the window, and tried to surpress a shiver that ran down her spine.  
  
"It's been too quiet recently." She muttered to herself. "With Ranma away, things have calmed down, slightly. It's like the calm before the storm."

* * *

Ranma continued training in the forest for the rest of the day. Running at top speed, while carrying the heaviest stones he could find. Leaping from tree to tree, branch to branch, using the tree climbing skill. Full speed training, wearing weighted clothing was enough to drain even Ranma's reserves, but that night, when he finally pulled himself back to camp, Ranma wasn't quite ready to finish for the day, so he decided to begin an aspect of the training that he had so far been putting off.  
  
"Just hope I don't blind myself doing this." Ranma told himself, as he closed his eyes.  
  
Slowly, Ranma built up his energies, though it was difficult after the intensive training he had put himself through. Then, he carefully channeled those energies into his eyes, much like how he had channeled his energies into the soles of his feet, for the tree climbing exercise.  
  
On the surface, the technique should be much like using ki to enhance one's strength, speed, or toughness. However, seeing was much different than moving limbs.  
  
The moment of truth. Ranma thought to himself, and slowly opened his eyes, and stared straight ahead.

* * *

It was a bright and sunny day as Ranma and Akane were walking to school. Ranma had only yesterday come back from his latest 'training trip' and Akane kept glancing at him, as he walked on the fence beside her.  
  
The two had just reached the gates to Furinkan, when they were treated to lovely voice of the Blue Thunder.  
  
"So, the Black Mage Saotome once again seeks to defile these hallowed halls with his necromancy! Hold foul villianous fiend, I shall once again drive you from this sacred ground, and free my beloveds from your demonic grasp, for I am the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" Kuno proclaimed to the world.  
  
Ranma closed his eyes, and then, opened them again, staring at Kuno, who suddenly froze, just as he made motion to attack Ranma. Kuno's eyes widened, bulging out, and he began to make noises, almost as if he was choking.  
  
Ranma guided Akane around the frozen Kuno, who suddenly collapsed.  
  
"Wonder what happened?" Akane said curiously. Honestly, she didn't really care about Kuno, but it was strange for a person to just freeze like that. Anyway, either Sasuke or Nabiki would just drag him to the nurses office, like always.  
  
"Maybe he suddenly realised how much of an idiot he was, and it shocked him unconcious." Ranma said with a shrug. "Don't really care. Come on, let's get to class before we're late."  
  
It was later that day, at a Manga Club meeting, when the newest member, Ranma, told his new friends about what had happened.  
  
"And no one realised what you had done?" Koji , the club treasurer asked, laughing.  
  
"Some of them might have guessed I had something to do with it, but they'll just shrug it off." Ranma smirked. "Too bad that kind of trick doesn't work on someone just as strong as you are. It'd help when dealing with Ryouga or Happi."  
  
"Well, it looks like you mastered the Shinowippo." Sakura, one of the few female members of the club said. "That, or you've learned the Glare pokemon attack." She chuckled.  
  
Ranma groaned.  
  
"Just because 'some' martial arts techniques are based off of animals, doesn't mean I'm going to base any on those things." Ranma rolled his eyes. "Don't really know what you see in them anyway."  
  
"They're cute." Sakura shrugged.  
  
Everyone, including Sakura, laughed at that.  
  
"Oh, here's your Naruto books back." Ranma passed another member several manga. "Those techniques in there are great."  
  
"Yeah." Kobiashi, Ranma's Naruto source said. "Do you want the next ones?"  
  
"Nah." Ranma shook his head. "I'm going to look at a bit more of the others. See if I can get some good training methods out of them."  
  
"Speaking of training, how's it working out?" Koji asked.  
  
Ranma grinned. "Well, I've got to say that it's a whole lot better than Pop's stupid ideas about training. Of course, that's not saying much."  
  
"Okay, now to get this meeting started." Koji said.  
  
The rest of the meeting was spent talking about various anime and manga, and what they were going to watch. Afterwards, many of the members handed Ranma notes filled with ideas about techniques and what they did. Some of the ideas, Ranma noted, were actually pretty good.  
  
It was the next day, while he was sparring with his father, that Ranma noticed something.  
  
It began much like any other day, with the two of them staring at each other from across the small pool, and leaped at each other.  
  
BANG!  
  
SPLASH!  
  
One blow, one blow is all it took for Ranma to take down his father.  
  
"Geeze, Pop, you've really let yourself go if I can take you down _that_ easily." Ranma said as he heaved his pandafied father out of the water and onto the ground.  
  
'Damn it.' Ranma thought to himself. 'I must be improving more than I realised, if I can take out Pop with one hit.'  
  
Ranma sighed.  
  
'It's been like this for a couple of weeks now, and unless he pulls out the Theif stuff, he can't hold his own against me.'  
  
Ranma paused for a moment.  
  
_Actually, now that I think about it, I've improved so much I think I could take him even 'if' he used the Yamasenken and Umisenken_. He shook his head. _Damn, I've gotten so good that the only ones who can take even give me a good fight, even holding back, are the Freak, the Ghoul, Rouge and Taro in their cursed forms, and Herb. Or Saffron._  
  
Ranma shuddered.  
  
_Unfortunately, Taro and Rouge can't be counted on to give me a good fight whenever I need it. Herb's back in China, and I ain't going back there for a looong time.  
_  
Ranma went in to eat breakfast, leaving his rotund father on the ground. He was surprised to see Happosai sitting at the table with the others as Kasumi and his mother, Nodoka, set down the dishes.  
  
"Speak of the Devil." Ranma muttered as he took his place. Happosai just glanced at Ranma, while the others simply ignored his comment.  
  
The meal went like most others at the Tendo household, once Genma had pulled himself in. That is, until just after everyone had finished, and before Ranma or Genma could leave.  
  
"Ranma my boy," Happosai said. "Starting tomorrow, _**I**_ will be the one you will be sparring with in the mornings."  
  
Everyone froze in shock.  
  
"Okay, what's the catch?" Ranma finally asked. "You've got something planned, I know it."  
  
"Really need to work on your people reading skills." Happosai said, filling up his pipe. "I have nothing planned, except to do a bit of sparring with my heir." And with that, Happosai went upstairs to his room.  
  
Once in his sanctuary, Happosai relaxed.  
  
"That boy has improved too fast." Happosai muttered to himself as he absentmindedly played with his lingere collection. "Someone has been training him, and I want to know who it is."  
  
Happosai then began to rummage around, and finally pulled out a few scrolls, remembering the burst of kill ki he had sensed the day before.  
  
He had been on one of his usual pan... missions of liberation... when he happened to be passing by Furinkan. Hoping to cop a quick feel off of Ranma, Ukyou, Akane, or Nabiki, he had jumped into a tree, when he saw Ranma walk up to the Kuno boy.  
  
"Why doesn't he give up?" Happosai muttered to himself as Kuno challenged Ranma. "That samurai-wannabe has as much chance against Ranma as... "  
  
Happosai was in shock, and in a slight bit of fear, as Ranma's aura suddenly exploded. It wasn't the size of the aura that scared him, but rather what it was made of...  
  
Kill Ki.  
  
Kill ki was, on the surface, much like any other ki generated by a mind frame or emotion. However, Kill ki was generated by the will or intent to kill. Only someone who had knowingly killed another living person could generate that type of ki, and Ranma was channeling this ki against the Kuno boy. Ranma was using it to attack the boy's ki directly, somewhat like what Happosai himself did when he used his giant battle aura to scare an opponent into submission. However, the method Ranma was using, was much more powerful, and dangerous.  
  
With Happosai's giant battle aura, if the opponent was in reasonable health, the most that would happen would that they would become paralysed in fear for a few seconds. However, if Ranma's version was too strong, or held for too long, it could cause permanent damage to one's ki. Possibly even... death.  
  
None of the other students in the yard had noticed much about was going on beyond Kuno freezing up.  
  
"Ranma seems to be channeling his aura quite well." Happosai whispered to himself. "Focusing it through the eyes to directly attack his opponent. Ingenious."  
  
Happosai had then returned to the Tendo home to contemplate what he had seen.  
  
After several hours, Happosai had determined that, since Ranma seemed to be keeping mum about what he had been doing during his 'training trips' Happosai would be forced to find some other means of discovering what was going on. That meant, pushing Ranma to his limits, until he was forced to begin drawing on his new skills. This would allow Happosai to get a much better idea on who was meddling in his afairs.  
  
Happosai shook himself free from the memory, and began to make plans for his sparring match the next day.  
  
==============================================================  
  
I'm looking for some priests or psychics who might be able to teach Ranma how to use Spirit Energy. They have to be able to use their spiritual powers, must have the ability to teach Ranma their skills, and must not be from any anime/manga that Ranma is copying things from. This leaves out characters from Fatal Fury/King of Fighters, Street Fighters, YYH, and maybe Dark City.  
  
Ones that are possible are Miroku, Keida, and Kagome/Kikyo from IY, Katsuhito/Yosho from Tenchi,   
  
Anyone who has an idea, e-mail me at dragonbardhotmail.com, or just leave your idea in the review. All suggestions will be greatly appreciated. 


End file.
